J.A. Happ, Adam Ottavino stumble as White Sox best Yankees, 5-4

Leury Garcia homered off of Adam Ottavino in the seventh inning to give the White Sox five unanswered runs as they came back to defeat the Yankees by a score of 5-4 on Thursday evening.

J.A. Happ continued his season-wide inconsistency in this game. After cruising along for the first three innings, he showed signs of trouble in the fourth before unraveling completely in the fifth. After allowing a leadoff single in the fourth to Tim Anderson, Happ appeared to have the inning under control, as he induced fly outs to Jose Abreu and James McCann; he then lost the strike zone, walking Yonder Alonso and Eloy Jimenez on eight straight pitches to load the bases with two outs. Jose Rondon popped out to second, preventing any damage, but that was only the first signs of things to come.

The next inning, Happ walked the leadoff hitter, Yolmer Sanchez, and then allowed a single to Ryan Cordell. Leury Garcia followed that up with an RBI double, before Anderson capped off the rally with a three-run home run that tied the game, 4-4. Abreu, McCann, and Jimenez grounded out, but the damage was done. His final line on the day would be four runs on five hits in five innings, striking out two and walking an unmanageable four.

While the top of the order could not do anything against one of the worst pitching staffs in the league, the bottom half of the order pushed the Yankees out to an early lead. Didi Gregorius and Gleyber Torres led off the second with singles, while Brett Gardner moved Gregorius to third as he reached on a fielder’s choice. The Yankees shortstop then scored on a wild pitch, putting the Yankees up 1-0. Gardner would then come around to score on a Clint Frazier single to left field, before the designated hitter himself got caught up in a strike-him-out, throw-him-out double play alongside Mike Tauchman.

Two innings later, the Yankees would double that lead as Brett Gardner hit a two-run homer. Unfortunately, that is all the Bombers could manage, as they were shut out by Chicago’s bullpen — including two guys with ERAs upwards of 6.00.

Despite their struggles at the plate, the Yankees infield shined with the glove, starting with a totally-normal 3-6-4 double play, with Gleyber Torres covering first:

On the other side of the diamond, DJ LeMahieu continues to flash his glove at third base, while Didi Gregorius made some solid plays at short and tested his arm a few times — a good sign as the shortstop comes back from Tommy John surgery.

Overall, this is a disappointing loss for the Yankees, who have struggled of late, as the repeated injuries have finally started to catch up with the team. CC Sabathia will look to get the Yankees back on track tonight, as he starts alongside Chicago ace Lucas Giolito. Tune in for first pitch at 8:10 EDT on WPIX.